


T O G E T H E R

by MarchWindsAprilShowers



Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-04-14 21:39:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14145123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarchWindsAprilShowers/pseuds/MarchWindsAprilShowers
Summary: Sabo, known as the greatest detective alive, decides to board the most peculiar cruise ship for a vacation with his assistant, Koala. It's in the middle of the winter, they are only two out of ten guests- Mysterious letters, a black sheep among the herd, and cold blood. This would be the greatest investigation yet.





	1. The Greatest Detective

Sabo served in the revolutionary army until he was taken out due to injury, now a scar across his face with ghosts of the fallen in it. Koala, his nurse, quickly became his assistant as 'the lights on upstairs are the brightest in her' was the older man's reasoning. She would be the best partner to have any his ventures beyond the war. He wanted work in the law, he wanted to help people, and so did she.

Now, here they are, sleuthing as if their talents for the great war never faded. The biggest investigations were completely solved at the drop of their hats like they picked apart the problem and put it back together like a simple puzzle. From returning artifacts to rightful owners to clearing the names of the wrongly accused across the vast oceans and seas birthed The Greatest Detective Alive.

However, one does grow weary after a while with more than enough reward money wedged in all pockets. After a recent investigation that ended with them both dodging bullets, Koala suggested a change of pace, of perspective, one vacation wouldn't kill him, but overwork will. "I saw advertisements for a winter cruise. I know how much you dread the heat." She offered, barely sparing him a glance from her desk as she read over a thick packet of closed investigations completed in the last month.

"'Winter cruise'?" The blonde man asks, his hand finding his chin to rub in thought as he gazed through the window in front of his assistant. He watched the snowfall from gray skies, adding to the thick blanket on the patches of grass right besides the concrete entrance. "Peculiar…" He trailed off to think – who goes on a cruise in the middle of winter?

"Don't think too much about it. It's legitimate cruise line, pretty popular in fact. Just say you'll go." The redhead presses, sliding the documents into a manila folder for filing.

"I never said I wouldn't." He says, glancing back at her.

She sighs. "Wonderful. I'll make the arrangements right away."

After locking up the folders in their rightful cabinet drawer, she sat back down at her small desk where she reached for the phone then sliding the dial with neatly filed fingertips.

Hearing her discuss the arrangements made Sabo feel slightly giddy which happens naturally when he goes to new places. However, it would be on his own accord, he wouldn't have to _think_ or _act –_ for a week, perhaps, he would just have to simply _be._ Exhaling shortly in determination, he threw on his cap and jacket to pack for tomorrow's newest journey.

The next morning's chill was forgettable with all the fuss with traveling to board on time. Koala's hurried heels clopped as they made their way to the ship along the dock. They would have been slower were it not for the Captain's assistant, the young lad with a strange scar under his eye that would bend when he grinned, who had taken their luggage to be delivered their suites.

"We are only two out of _nine_ guests here." The redhead mentions. "Isn't that strange?"

"Really?" Sabo asks curiously. "This must be the smallest cruise I have ever been on."

His assistant makes a thoughtful noise in agreement. "But, I don't want to find out why, or how, or- just whatever." She huffs.

"Good thing we aren't working at the moment."

"Aye."

They meandered up the ramp and on to the smallish vessel as if to prove their point. They were greeted – by a guest as he wore no official uniforms. His black facial hair was short and as clean as his eyebrows, yet his sideburns were the opposite. His skin was as pale as could be like those gray irises, his eyelashes were so thick, he could be mistaken for wearing makeup. He did not smile under that white and black spotted cap – instead he looked a little surprised at unexpected company.

"Investigator Sabo." He breathed before stiffly holding out his hand. "It's an honor to meet you."

"A pleasure," The blonde responded. "You are...?"

"Lawrence Waters, a vacationing surgeon." The corners of his mouth raise slightly. "If you'll excuse me, I would like to get situated before this thing moves."

"Of course, of course."

"Fancy seeing 'The Greatest Detective of All Time' here!" A deeper voice boisterously bellows from behind them.

A large, middle-aged man, wearing a white downy coat that almost covered his entire body. His cat-eye sunglasses sharp, blonde hair messy but confident enough. His knowing smile, a toothy grin – a business man from what both Sabo and Koala could smell. With him, a short, lanky man with a pointy nose carrying two suitcases – his servant?

"Don Quixote." His last name said in a convincing French accent. "Sound familiar? I run all the major banks in Spain and parts of France. This is my secretary, Mr. Leo Tontatta."

Leo nodded in acknowledgment before he was roughly nudged by his boss to put their things away.

Sabo made his best courtesy smile as they firmly shook hands. "Well met! I knew I heard that name somewhere! Wonderful to make your acquaintance."

"I hope to hear any stories of yours at dinner. If you need me, I'll be at the bar."

"Right."

The two left looked at each other at the ridiculousness of their encounter before setting off to find their quarters. They resided in a warmly lit hallway inside a minuscule second floor that rested on the middle of the deck with cold metal stairs leading up to it. Their rooms were next to each other, right in the middle with four doors on either side, going in order from left to right. As Koala was about to slide her newly acquired brass key from the port that morning after Sabo disappeared inside his room to her left, but the door was already being pulled open.

A tall, shapely woman in a navy blue dress, with wavy dark brown hair, half-up, flowing down her back stared back at her "intruder". She fulls lips curved into a hypnotizing smile, almost as mesmerizing as her eyes. "I suppose they didn't tell you room six belongs to Violet Dold."

"N-No, they didn't. Pardon me."

"Oh, it was my fault. I made the request at the last minute." She pulled something out from her pocket – another brass key with a one engraved on it. "Let's make a trade, Miss Sun."

The fast exchange went quietly, ending on Violet's 'nice to meet you' as she closed her door with barely a sound. Koala opted not to think about her or the honest mistake for the rest of the trip.

When lunch time came around, with following the signs on the hallway walls as a straight shot to the left, all the guests were brave enough to show their faces in the dining room. It was brightly lit, small in size, and in warm lights with the windows adding to it along the right side. Four booths lined both walls, leaving a walkway of beige carpet on dark wood floors that matched the seats. Opposite of the entrance were the two doors that opened to the kitchen.

Don and Leo sat near the kitchen doors on the left side unlike everyone else, playing a round of poker with smoke wafting across the table from the older man's cigar. Lawrence preferred to read alone, sitting right besides a window with a steaming mug resting in front of him. Those who sat across from him carried their own conversation while they looked over the menu: a woman with coal black hair, as straight as a pin, with burgundy lipstick and sleeves the frilled out at the elbows. The man next to her looking like her polar opposite: large, stout, his mouth wide, looking like he was plotting something, but his hair was the same color as hers.

Violet sat across a very young woman with hair so light, it looked pastel pink. It was tucked neatly into a long braid down her back with a golden leaf pinning a tiny portion of her clean bangs. She wore a teal dress with long sleeves blousing at the wrists. She giggled at something before a large, burly waiter with a minor limp, tan skin, and black curly hair pulled back tightly into a ponytail, came to set a mug down in front of her. She nodded with smile, he leaves.

Sabo and Koala chose the table behind Viola by the window, at least that was where the redhead ran to first. Menus were already waiting for them, the cold from their lonesomeness shocking their fingertips when picking it up. All the choices looked so good, the unconscious action of licking their lips proved it.

This would be the same place Sabo would be given a request the very next evening from the bank president, his assistant without him. It was after dinner, everyone left to retire for the night, and dessert was offered but none taken. Don slapped an already opened envelope on the tablecloth, gesturing for the investigator to do his job. The blonde cleared his throat upon picking it up, taking out the contents and unfolding the letter that's writing was all in cut out newspaper.

_DoNT geT COMFORTable_

_YouLL GET WHAT you DeSerVe_

_SOON_

"I got it when I went to my room. My secretary said it was resting on the bed when he got there." He says, leaning back in his chair. "It great that you're here. I'll pay you to find out what's going on. _Handsomely."_

Sabo shook his head, handing the letter back. "I'm not working at the moment. As daring as the offer is, I must decline."

As if he was ignored, "This isn't the only letter I've received like this. Here's the first one, I got it this morning right before I left my house." Another enveloped was sat on the table, the younger man looked at it.

_SaY you'RE PRAYERs_

_your TIME IS LIMITED_

"Don't you think I want to relax too?" Don says, narrowing his eyes. "There is someone on this ship, I know it, there's a black sheep among us. You have just the mind I was looking for – the sooner we snag 'im, the sooner this is all over and we can go back to not even knowing each others names anymore. I'll pay you _double_."

"Again, I must _decline,"_ Sabo says very curtly through stiff lips as he gets up from his seat. "I was out of work right as I stepped on this ship, and I intend to be that way until the we reach our destination. You will have to find someone else. Good luck to you." He briskly walked down the hallway to his door, realizing just how tired he was.

He lazily changed into his pajamas before pulling the shade over the window. As he climbed under the covers of the twin bed wedged in a tight but cozy corner of the room, he sighed out through his nose as he bathed in the serene quiet. His body sunk further into the mattress, his eyes closed without the energy to open them.

Right on the cusp of sleep, his ears picked up some hurried rustling, a few careless knocks against the wall to his left. There was some strangled noise, but it was tightly muffled and almost couldn't be heard. When a louder thud was heard, Sabo's eyes slammed opened, his feet already at his door to peek out.

The noise is quieter.

He waited.

Shaking his head, he tried going back to sleep, but the noise continued. Something falls on the floor – the investigator is ready to give his neighbor a piece of his mind. Right as he pushes the door open a second time, he sees someone in a billowing red robe with a plain straw hat large enough to hide who was wearing it jogging down the hall towards the dining room. Chewing on his bottom lip slightly, he closes the door again.

The next thing he hears is some polite knocking and, "It's Captain Sengoku. My assistant, Luffy, received a noise complaint. Is everything alright?"

A rough voice, so quiet it could barely be distinguished says, "It's nothing."

"Alright. Sorry to bother."

"Just forget it," His brain tells him. "It's over now. Time to rest."

And rest he did.

Little did he know that tomorrow would be his greatest investigation yet.


	2. Nine

Breakfast in the dining room was quiet besides for a radio playing calm jazz music from the kitchen – Sabo preferred it that way, focusing on the smell of coffee and brisket that made his mouth water. Koala sat across from him, her nose wedged into a book in wait for the food to arrive. His eyes shifted to the window, seeing a sky lacking any personality besides for thick, gray clouds: it would snow today.

Yet, something felt off, and it kept poking at the back of his brain. The whole thing last night with the noise and the mysterious runner – but whoever was in that room said they were fine, right? Maybe it felt weird from what Don had said about the letters. Not one person had control over coincidences, nor were they at fault.

Violet strutted in, the girl that she had dinner with was right besides her looking well rested. They both greeted the two before sitting at the table behind Koala, chatting about how hungry they were. Next was Lawrence, looking the same way, nodding at the girls as he sat down at the table behind Violet, cracking open a book. Then the young woman and man who were with him before filed in confidently enough, slamming a deck of cards on the table.

"Wanna gamble?" The younger man says mischievously.

The woman with him swoons. "My husband loves gambling! Let's!"

Lawrence checked his watch – then there was a loud shout, a crash, feet scrambling into the dining area all from down the hall.

"Is there anyone here who's a doctor!?" Was what Leo yelled all panicky and out of breath. His hands shook, looking back at the bedrooms with them up near his mouth."Oh my- oh my G-d, he's-he's-"

"I am!" Lawrence stands, racing over to the shorter man. "What's going on?"

"My boss! He's _dead!_ There's blood everywhere, I-I can't I-"

"Dead!?" The pink-haired woman gasped. "Someone died on the ship!?"

"Becca, calm down..." Violet says softly.

"He was _murdered!"_ Leo corrects in hyperventilating disbelief. "I think someone snuck into his room last night or-or _something!"_

The surgeon grabs his shoulders. "Calm down and go get the captain," Leo nods quickly before breathlessly scurrying away.

"Investigator, if you wouldn't mind." Lawrence asks, motioning for Sabo to follow into the hallway of suites. Koala is already following by the time the blonde man decides to leave the table.

So much for the vacation – Sabo almost curses.

The door was left wide open, the three guests walking through. The gruesomeness made them gasp – Don Quixote's cold, limp body laid there with a horrified look on his face that he probably showed his attacker until his last seconds, his entire front clothed in pinstripe pajamas were so soaked in blood that it seeped through all the blankets that covered him. One hand was dangling off the side, skimming the carpeted floor while the other was up by his head where he was probably held down. Even though he had an expression, his eyes were still glassy and dead like stuffed game with all the color in his skin long gone.

This wasn't anything new. They all have seen dead bodies before, examined them even, but dead bodies have this sick allure that no amount of experience could erase to not be able to tear their attention away from the very sight. It was almost like collateral beauty with the way it was so difficult to get over. The surgeon left, breaking the trance first, as he would for being the most experienced with lifeless people, coming back shortly pulling on white latex gloves right as Sabo threw back the covers.

"Seven...eight...nine. Nine stab wounds," The detective concluded, the redhead jotting it down on the back page of the novel she had been reading. "All at random as well. It's as if someone was just stabbing aimlessly, like they were in a hurry or a struggle."

He let the other man furrow his brows over the examination as he searched the room, Koala being his second pair of eyes in doing so. They quickly averted their gaze once they saw gloved fingers dip into each wound, feeling around, the sound enough to make anyone gag if they were close enough to hear it. His fingertips were accustomed to the coldness and softness of whatever comes out of the raw meat section of the deli.

"Time of death?" Sabo asks anyway.

The surgeon narrowed his eyes. "Midnight, maybe around one o'clock last night. But, this is strange," He stepped back, tugging off the gloves. "All the wounds vary in deepness, they're barely similar. But you may be right; the killer must have been stabbing randomly anyway." A red stained pile of empty white fingers was thrown into the wastebasket by the door. "I'll go see if the captain is on his way." He leaves, pushing passed the crowd that formed just outside.

"I don't get how this much damage could be done," Koala says. "He's a big guy by anyone's reckoning – he must have put up one hell of a fight, wouldn't you say? I mean there are barely any signs of a struggle here."

"Excellent point, my thoughts exactly," Sabo agreed. "Let's search the room."

The assistant found a mug sitting at the nightstand, empty of all its contents. She picked it up, taking a whiff – a strong earl grey, but something was off. It was a drug, a tranquilizer, that was mixed in to the drink. As an ex-nurse, she could tell the strangeness of _somnolentia boletus edulis,_ or the infamous 'drowsy mushroom'. It was a popular drug during the war to help the soldiers cope or to poison the opposed, and she's smelt it on the breaths of many.

"He was drugged," She announces over her shoulder as her comrade searched the dresser near the foot of the bed. "Remember the drowsy mushrooms?"

"Well, that explains why there was a lack of a struggle," The investigator concludes, looking at the broken watch on the floor near the bottom drawer. It had a golden backing, the glass on the front with a jagged crack right down the middle. The black hands with the red second hand were completely still. "This watch reads the exact time Lawrence estimated. One o' five in the morning."

The scratching of a pencil to paper. "Got it."

The search continued, Koala turned her attentions back to the body and whatever was near. The nightstand only held the mug, nothing was tucked away under the blankets when she peeled them back. Lastly, she lifted the pillow that Don's head rested on. "A gun, it's a silencer. Nine mil. I never took him to be the paranoid sort."

"He had his reasons," Sabo says as he pull letters from the top drawer. "He talked to me the same night he was murdered. He wanted me to look into the death threats he started getting right before he boarded, but I obviously declined. I was _supposed_ to be out of work."

Koala stepped over to look at them, but her balance almost seemed to be thrown off as her foot rolled on something. Her partner caught her before she half tumbled into the wall, then she immediately looked down to find whatever messed her up. With a quick thanks, the redhead bent down to grab the brassy, filigree circle resting lonesome on the floor.

"It's one of the staff buttons..." She looked alarmed at her partner for a second before her gaze shot to the captain's assistant who was among the audience.

"I-I have all my buttons! See? See!" The captain's assistant said from behind the crowd, his voice like a boyish girl's with messy black hair tucked under a navy blue cap. "So does the captain!"

The detectives looked at each other as something that would be properly discussed later. They would wait until Sengoku arrived and look him over. The rest of the guests visibly tensed up, trying to keep their distance from the suspect, but didn't want to miss anything about the newest case.

Going back to the letters that were thoroughly thumbed, there were the two that the investigator was already shown, then four more that threatened on and on in letters cut from newspaper until:

_Our hearts beat like hooves on the roses you burned._

_We know who you are._

_And it's too late._

She shook her head after repeating the first sentence, written in the neatest calligraphy, aloud to herself. "What enemies could he have had? His name, Don Quixote, is clean."

"But, it does sound familiar...Unless...!" Sabo trailed off, pulling out a wallet from under the papers. He opened it, finding a driver's license for, "Doflamingo Donquixote. He hid his identity using the French pronunciation."

"The Spanish Tyrant...!" Koala gasped. "I remember the entire case with him and his gang, it was all the talk when I was a teenager. He murdered an ally gang leader, Corazon, in cold blood then chased off the rest of the group out of the country."

"I remember it too well," The older man sighed. "Corazon was the polar opposite of his 'comrade'. Although feared, he was known to be kind. He even went out on his way searching for months to find a cure for that sick Trafalgar orphan. Right as he found it – _bang!_ Shot dead right in the middle of the street one night, the boy saw it. Why he was killed is still questionable, just like this case now. Someone must be connected to either one to kill Doflamingo, a former leader of an entire crime syndicate and now with entire control of Spain with an iron fist on the banks and legal conglomerates beyond."

His assistant's eyebrows furrowed. "Didn't the boy...?"

"Die? No one knows that either. It's rumored that he might have been killed before he got the chance to go into hiding in Dressrosa or he's changed identities to live in peace." He folded everything back up, placing the evidence in Koala's hands. He turned to the bed, grimacing slightly, then throwing the sheets over dead, dark eyes. "It's not like he could really testify to anything when Doflamingo had so much power."

"I just radioed the marines," Sengoku says stepping behind the audience of guests and his assistant. "They're on their way as we speak, but this ship _cannot_ move. We're staying put until they arrive."

"And just how long will that be?" The raven-haired woman snapped. "I have to meet my husband on time! We've got _very_ important engagements!"

"A couple days," He admits with a sigh before looking at the two left in the room. "Will that be long enough for the both of you to close this?"

Sabo nodded. "It's all the time we need. Now, if we all could congregate in the dining room, let's discuss. Anything you can share is crucial to this case."

The group silently agreed, a quiet march down the hall with captain and his assistant in tow. Almost all the booths were filled, some of the guests were glancing suspiciously at each other as if they were trying to find the 'black sheep among the herd' or make their guesses. No one felt safe – not anymore. A perfectly good vacation shot right down the drain, refunds were in order.


End file.
